CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - The Maryland Terrapins, led by Matt Hahn's three goals in the final quarter, broke open a 6-6 game and went on to a 13-8 victory in the first semifinal of the 1998 ACC Men's Lacrosse Championships tonight in Charlottesville, Va. With the score tied at 6 after three quarters of play, Maryland's Erik Osberg assisted on a pair of goals in the first minute of the fourth quarter to give the Terrapins the lead for good.

North Carolina opened the scoring in the game with a bounce shot from Justin Bowman six minutes into the contest. The Terrapins answered with the final three goals of the quarter as Andrew Whipple and Hahn both assisted and scored for the Terps' first two goals and Brian Zeller scored from Frank Radin with just 33 seconds remaining in the period to give Maryland the 3-1 advantage at the break.

UNC's Jeremy Carey opened the scoring in the second quarter just 42 seconds into the second stanza with a dive to cut the deficit to one. Hahn doubled the margin four minutes later as he stuffed in a rebound to make the score 4-2. Carolina went on a 2-0 run in two minutes as Chase Martin and Billy Walsh both tallied for the Tar Heels to tie the score at 4-4. But Maryland's Whipple put the Terps up by one at the break with an unassisted dodge with 4:55 to go in the first half.

North Carolina tied up the game for a second time as Jeff Sanke took a pass from Bowman to the cage two minutes into the second half on an extra-man situation. Whipple again put Maryland up by one a minute later, but Bowman scored his second goal with just over ten minutes remaining in the third quarter to tie the game for a third time. The teams held each other scoreless for the final ten minutes of the third quarter, setting the stage for Hahn's heroics.

The Terrapins advance to the 1998 ACC Championship game to be held in Charlottesville on Sunday, April 19 at 3:44 pm. The game will be televised live on Fox Sports South and the Sunshine Network and will be broadcast on tape-delay at 8:00 pm on Sunday night by HTS. The Terrapins await the winner of the second semifinal which pits the second-seeded Virginia Cavaliers (ranked fifth) against the third-seeded Duke Blue Devils (ranked sixth) which takes place at the conclusion of the first semifinal.